Before reading the rest of this post there is one thing you must know about me.
I am not a huge fan of Bak Kut Teh.
Nor of Ter Ka braised pig trotters.
I say I am not huge.
That doesn't mean that I don't appreciate a good bowl of soup from time to time.
Neither does it mean I'm so completely averse that I refuse to touch the dish of pig trotter with a ten-foot pole.
It just means that neither dish is not often the very first thing that comes to mind when I'm hungry, and it just means that I become sort of discerning when it comes to the style of Bak Kut Teh and Ter Ka that I want to have.
That being said, I don't think I'm very particular, nor am I very faithful to this style or that style.
Maybe because I was brought up Cantonese, so I don't have a particular preference whether it be the clear peppery style or the black herbal style.
If I so happen to be at where, I see what, I eat what.
Like how if I happen to be in Chinatown, Somerset or Suntec City, I might head to Song Fa because there're outlets in Chinatown Point, Centerpoint and Suntec City.
And how if I'm near the East Coast at Joo Chiat Road I could head to Sin Heng Claypot Bak Kut Teh for their black herbal style of soup, their yam rice, and thickly cut youtiao.
Then, if I happen to be in the Geylang area and I'm thinking of Bak Kut Teh, then it is the claypot Klang style at Geylang Lorong 11 that I head for.
Which is better, which is nicer, that doesn't matter so much to me.
Both styles of soups are heartwarming whenever I have them, and there's more than enough protein to go around with the thick chunk of pork on the pork ribs, and the trotter.
But there came the day when my friend told me about this new place a short walk away from the Lifelong Learning Institute at Paya Lebar. At first I had wondered just how special and how unique this BKT was, and quietly I had hoped it would be good.
But, guess what, one dine-in at Heng Kee Delights Bak Kut Teh in Guan Guan Kopitiam on 1015 Geylang East Avenue 3, and I've become a new fan.
Yes, seriously.
No joke, I've become a fan of this BKT.
Not the dry version- that one I sadly haven't tried- but the soup one.
But, let me say this, if it were the soup that I fell in love, it was the Ter Ka that had me completely blown away.
See, I've had a fair bit of pig trotters in simmering claypots, but never, I think, have I ever seen something this large and this huge.
This was no tiny pork leg.
This was one big chonk of a trotter with an equally large chonk of a meat.
And it glistened- unabashedly- under the lights of the Kopitiam.
I had thought one piece of the leg was more than enough, but inside the claypot there were other smaller pieces of meat bobbing about in the gravy here and there.
It is the sheen of the dish that gets to me.
Like how I do know that Ter Ka can be on the oilier side- all the collagen- but to have it shine so enticingly under the lights is another feeling altogether.
It is a little unfortunate that I'm a mouse when it comes to seeing the braised skin of the trotter.
It is also a little unfortunate that I never know how to distinguish the fat from the meat.
So glad I am that this evening I wasn't dining alone and that I had a friend who was more expert than I was in separating the fat from the meat.
Shall I say that the meat of the trotter was tasty?
Yes.
And better it was when eaten with the gravy still simmering in its own claypot.
So full of flavors was the zup that I think I ate every piece with at least a spoonful.
The same compliments can be said of the Bak Kut Teh here at Heng Kee Delights.
It is so seldom that I manage to find a soup that makes for a perfect balance between the two, and find it here I did.
Milder than the black herbal style, stronger than the clear peppery style, whether in terms of taste or thickness, this newly-discovered BKT of mine sat solidly right in between.
And I loved it, I tell you.
It wasn't even just the flavors alone, but the thickness of the soup itself.
Especially since I am the sort who loves her porridges to be thick and her soups to be creamy, broth-like, and this BKT had a thickness that didn't overwhelm, yet had a bit of clearness at the same time.
It's kind of funny, but writing about this dish I'm actually beginning to miss it now.
Perhaps I'll find some chance to have it soon, before the week is over.
Or I might just wait till another day, another time.